SHOW / EPISODE

Foundations of Freedom Series: Adam Smith and The Founders

Season 5 | Episode 6
38m | May 21, 2026

In Episode 01 of the Foundations of Freedom series, Dr. Anne Rathbone Bradley sits down with Dr. Samuel Gregg to examine the remarkable convergence of two defining events in 1776: the publication of Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations and the signing of the Declaration of Independence.


As America approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration, this conversation explores how the Founders understood economic liberty as essential to political liberty, why private property, rule of law, free markets, and civil society mattered to the American founding, and how Smith’s moral and economic thought shaped debates that continue today.


Dr. Bradley and Dr. Gregg discuss the tension between Jefferson and Hamilton on trade and political economy, the moral foundations of commercial society, the role of virtue in sustaining liberty, and the importance of families, associations, and decentralized institutions in preserving a free republic.


This episode launches IWP’s Foundations of Freedom series with a timely reflection on Smith, the Founders, and the enduring principles behind ordered liberty, economic freedom, and self-government.

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